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You don't need to have a Pixel 2 to get a built-in song identifier anymore: Google has finally given Assistant the ability to compete with Shazam. Next time you hear a nice tune playing, you can simply ask Assistant "What song is this?" and it will reply with the title and artist. It will also toss in an info card with the title of the album where you can find the track, the date it was released and embedded links to Search, YouTube and Play that make it easier to get the song or to listen to it again.

Spotify's streaming business is legally tricky, and just ahead of an IPO that could value it at $13 billion, it's facing two more vexing lawsuits, according to THR. In one, Bob Gaudio of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons alleges that '60s hits like "Can't Take My Eyes off of You" are being streamed without proper licensing. The other suit comes from Bluewater Music Services Corporation, which manages the streaming rights of songs like "White Liar" from Miranda Lambert and the Guns 'N Roses' track "Yesterdays." All told, over 2,500 songs are in dispute.

Sharing songs with your buddies while on the go has typically been a hassle, with weird Shazam-style workarounds to get a song from one phone to another. It looks like Spotify knows this, too, as it's rolling out a new feature to use Snapchat-style codes that will let you grab a photo of your friend's screen to grab the song they want to share with you. We've confirmed the new feature in the Spotify app, though there's been no official word yet.

If you're a Spotify user, your friends and family aren't the only ones who are able to check out your playlists. The popular streaming service is now the latest platform that is opening its data to targeted, programmatic advertising. Everything from your age and gender, to the music genres you like to listen to will be targetable by participating third-party companies

Unlike on other platforms that have access to most every song in the franchise's archives, Rock Band 4 for the PC comes with no previous DLC content. As such, Harmonix has added an additional tier to its fan-funded Fig campaign that would give backers at that level every single song in the Rock Band DLC library. The only hitch: you're going to have to shell out a whopping $2,500 for it. Well, that and the campaign still needs to raise another two thirds of its $1.5 million funding goal in the next 11 days.

Rock Band 4 guitar gods, songstresses and drum demons, here are your weapons in the coming music-game war. Rock Band 4's complete setlist includes legendary and modern artists and songs, including Cake's Short Skirt/Long Jacket, Brad Paisley's Start A Band, Gin Blossoms' Follow You Down, Fleetwood Mac's You Make Loving Fun, REM's The One I Love, Mumford & Sons' The Wolf, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones' The Impression That I Get, Lynyrd Skynyrd's That Smell, Rush's A Passage to Bangkok and Van Halen's Panama.

In addition to being married to one of the most popular (albeit retired) footballers in recent years, Victoria Beckham also lays claim to the catchiest song ever in the UK. Posh and her bandmates in the Spice Girls have the most recognizable tune with "Wannabe," according to a study from Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). Using an interactive game, researchers gathered details on what cements songs in the mind of the listener long-term, tallying stats from over 12,000 folks. The game played clips of tracks randomly selected from the best-selling tunes spanning the 1940s to today. Based on the amount of time it took to identify the song, researchers compiled the list of the 20 catchiest of all time, with the aforementioned selection taking an average of 2.29 to recognize. Number 2? Why that's Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5," and the most recent song is Lady Gaga's "Just Dance," coming in fourth. Don't worry, we've posted the full list on the other side of the break.

By now, you've likely noticed that Twitter slapping new Cards in your timeline on a regular basis. Well, now you're about to get more sound. The company announced today that the Audio Card is on its way to iOS and Android devices, and it'll allow you to listen right from the social feed. Not wanting to hold up your browsing, the content will continue to play while you scroll through the rest of that collection of tweets. What's more, the offering is getting a hand from streaming services, but for now, the first one to opt in is SoundCloud. While that may see like an odd match, rumors circulated a few months back that Twitter was looking to snatch up that audio service, and SoundCloud continues to add new features that make it much more of a listening option than one for producers. You can expect podcasts and more to get cozy in your timeline from the likes of NASA, NPR, Pitchfork and many more. Audio Cards are still in the testing phase, but they're said to be rolling out for more "partners and creators" to use soon.

The League of Legends World Championship is so on, with 16 teams competing for the top spot across a road show of tournament locations in Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. The Championship ends at the home of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Sangam Stadium in Seoul, on October 19. See? ESports are sporty.

To kick off the Championship, the band Imagine Dragons contributed a song for another stunning piece of animation from Riot, this time in a more cartoony style than its standard cinematics. "While working on the next album, we took a break to collab with League of Legends (our favorite game) on a song," the band tweeted. Download the song here and see the League of Legends World Championship stream schedule here.
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imagine-dragonslcs-2014league-of-legendsleague-of-legends-world-championshipspcriot-gamessongsThu, 18 Sep 2014 19:00:00 -040011|20964636https://massively.joystiq.com/2014/04/11/the-daily-grind-whats-your-favorite-mmo-related-song/https://massively.joystiq.com/2014/04/11/the-daily-grind-whats-your-favorite-mmo-related-song/https://massively.joystiq.com/2014/04/11/the-daily-grind-whats-your-favorite-mmo-related-song/#comments

We talk MMO soundtracks in depth here at Massively, but by and large our focus is on instrumental, orchestral, or electronic scores. Recently I've been setting my MP3 player on auto-repeat for a vocal track, though. It's called Beauty of Dawn and it comes to you courtesy of The Elder Scrolls Online and fan favorite Malukah, who rose to fame a couple of years ago on the strength of her Dragonborn cover.

Sometimes, it's easy to get so excited that you spontaneously burst into song. After all, that's the logic behind most musicals, no? Microsoft's OneNote team took that idea and ran with it, cribbing from Les Miserables in the process. See, after setting its note-taking app free last month, the team had reason to celebrate. Naturally, it picked an upbeat song ("One Day More") from one of the saddest musicals of all time to do so. Video evidence of the team's "Weird Al" skills is after the break, but try not getting the track stuck in your head -- it's for the good of everyone, really.

Smule is the company behind a lot of excellent music apps, and its latest release is called, simply, Guitar! by Smule. Just like much of Smule's other work, the app is designed to let you "play" a guitar via your iPhone, tapping and strumming various notes that run across the screen. That in itself is not all that innovative, but Smule's tie in to its other apps and the company's substantial licensed music library is. With Guitar!, you get access to some really great guitar pop songs, and the team has also connected this app up to the Sing! karaoke app, which means that the singers putting in their voices to match your guitar are just fans playing along as well.

That makes this app a little more special than just a standard music game. Still, despite that extra connection, there's not much else to make this one stick out -- you only get two songs for free, and then you'll either need to pay for a few more songs, or earn a whole lot of points to purchase others to play. It's nice that Smule has provided the app for free, and if you like these games they've made, this one is worth a download. But Smule is definitely starting to follow a formula here, successful as it may be so far, rather than inventing something really brand new.

Just in case the thing that prevented you from buying Rocksmith on Steam was the lack of Maroon 5 songs, we'll just remove that musical obstacle for you right here and now. Valve reports that "Misery," "She Will Be Loved," and "Harder to Breathe" have all been added to the game.

You can buy each song for $2.99, or pick them all up together for $7.99. Once purchased, you can play through the songs with a standard electric or bass guitar, and each song also adds a new authentic tone to play with on the game's Amp mode. Sweet Maroon 5-style haircuts are, unfortunately, sold separately.

Ever bought a track from iTunes? Well, turns out, if you did you're in good company, with Apple revealing that over 25 billion songs in total have been purchased from the store. Wondering what song was the record breaker? That'd be Monkey Drums (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch. No? Us neither. Said song was bought by one lucky German, Phillip Lüpke, snagging the music fan a €10,000 iTunes voucher at the same time. And who said there was no money in the music business these days.

Most of the apps on display in Macworld/iWorld 2013's "Appalooza" annex are of the productivity variety, but that doesn't mean there isn't some fun stuff to be found. One that caught my eye was Jam from Australian developer DreamWalk Mobile.

Launched two weeks ago on the App Store, it's a free music-creation app for iPhone and iPod touch with a unique hook: You sing -- not even especially well, even -- and the app auto-tunes you and creates an original backing track, then mixes it all down into something you can share on Facebook.

The app, which has seen about 19,000 songs shared to date, came from the developer's desire to take an Instagram-style approach to music creation. That is, improving the source material -- in this case your voice, with "filters" replaced by auto-tuning -- and giving you a means to share the results with friends.

The backing tracks it adds to your vocals are generated from original loops and samples recorded in-studio by Jam's developers. They fall into several musical genes, including pop, rock and reggae. Only the pop rock genre comes pre-installed; others are available as US$0.99 in-app purchases. In an interesting twist, it's possible to buy the add-on genres without spending actual money. You can actually earn in-game currency in the form of "royalties" from others listening to and liking you songs, and these virtual funds can then be used in lieu of real money for the IAPs.

We've been playing around with the app a bit since our demo and have made a few little ditties this far, mostly about our co-workers and cats. It's a clever app for sure, and you can't really beat the price. Of course, whether it'll achieve its creators' Instagram-level aspirations remains to be seen, but it's nevertheless a fun diversion with some potential.

Sony's SingStar Viewer app for the PlayStation 3 previously just allowed players to check out SingStar content for free; they'd have to put the game's disc in if they actually wanted to sing along with any of the game's songs. But a new message in the app hints that will be changing very soon. The Viewer app has reportedly been discontinued, and a message when the app is loaded says that "The complete SingStar experience will be available as a free download very soon!" Presumably, that means that anyone will be able to download SingStar, and then play Sony's karaoke game for zero cost (with extra songs being purchaseable separately).

The one catch: The game will still require a mic, so if you haven't bought one of those yet, you'll need to do so. But the good news is that the mics are available for just a few bucks in certain places, so those interested should be able to pick one up easily. We'll look for more official news on this next week from the PlayStation Blog.
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downloadsfreefreemiumplaystationps3singstarsingstar-viewersongssonySat, 13 Oct 2012 13:30:00 -040011|20349420https://www.engadget.com/2012/10/01/apple-ping-dead-rip-2010-2012/https://www.engadget.com/2012/10/01/apple-ping-dead-rip-2010-2012/https://www.engadget.com/2012/10/01/apple-ping-dead-rip-2010-2012/#comments

"I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride Something touched me deep inside... the day the music died."

Ping, Apple's foray into music-centric social networking, hasn't seen much in the way of updates since it was announced two years ago, and now the folks in Cupertino are set to shut it down on September 30th. Struck with the sudden urge to sign-up for the service and take it for a spin before it goes offline? You're out of luck. Visiting the network's home in iTunes reveals that Cook and Co. are no longer accepting new members. From here on out, you'll just have to find other avenues to keep tabs on what tunes are playing within your social circles.

Yearning to break free from earbud-induced isolation and spring towards a music listening experience with a social slant? Seedio for iOS can help. Built by a team of six developers, the app networks local iDevices over WiFi and allows one user to stream music to others. Audio from iTunes or YouTube is queued up by the designated disc jockey, or "seeder," and plays through each device's speakers in unison to create a distributed, makeshift loudspeaker. If the situation calls for a quieter jam session, however, you can forgo the speakers and listen in with headphones instead. Up to 150 devices can connect through a single router, but four is the current limit when relying on an ad hoc network created by an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Seedio isn't the first of its kind to roam the wilds of the App Store, but its creators claim to have nailed syncing audio across gadgets. The app is free for a limited time, but will soon pick up a $2.99 price tag. For those content with merely tuning in and leaving the playlist duty to others, the app will remain free.

Genius playlists are great for picking out music you like, but if you want a set of songs to match your mood, you should take a closer look at Habu. Habu is an iOS app that creates playlists based upon the mood conveyed in a song. Habu is powered by Gracenote, a music database company that licenses music and video metadata information.

The app scans your music library and groups songs into moods and emotions like cool, rowdy and brooding. Not only does the app create mood-based lists, it also gives you some insight into your personality. You can see whether your library is dominated by energetic or sensitive songs. You can even share your mood map with friends via Facebook. Similar to other music tools, Habu lets you discover new music based on the mood of your library.

According to TechCrunch, the developers behind Habu have a lot more planned for the app. Among other features, they hope to make the app more aware of your surroundings by tapping into other data on your phone. This would let the app serve up soothing music while you walk to a lecture and energetic music while you drive to the gym.

Beck's latest album won't debut on the shelves of your local brick-and-mortar retailer. Instead, Cities, as its called, will roll out on Sound Shapes for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita. The platformer's song-inspired stages transform the record's three tunes, Cities, Touch the People and Spiral Staircase, into interactive music videos, with original art and lyrics inserted into the environment. If traipsing through the included soundscapes -- not all of which are Beck-centric -- isn't enough to please, the developers are gifting gamers with the tools needed to build levels of their own. As a cross-play game, the $14.99 price tag nets both the console and portable versions of the downloadable title. Sound Shape won't hit digital shelves until August 7th, but you can catch a sneak peak (and a quick listen) after the break.

Smule, as we've said before, is an interesting company. Its goal is to bring new musical experiences to people through technology like the iPhone. The company's latest release, Magic Guitar, definitely follows that philosophy. Like the very popular Magic Piano for the iPad, the app enables you to "play" guitar music, even if you don't have any experience with the real thing.

The most interesting thing about Magic Guitar is you hold it. The idea is that you're fingering chords on a guitar neck, so you're supposed to hold the iPhone in the palm of your hand, with your fingers wrapped around the far side. As "notes" fall down towards a line on the screen, you're supposed to put your fingers down where they drop, and as you do, various notes in the song will be played. It's tough to explain, but once you see it in action, it makes sense.

Unfortunately, while Magic Piano offers a variety of songs to play, Magic Guitar takes a freemium route. There are only a few songs that come with the free download, and some of those are very short, with only one verse and a chorus. Additional songs need to be purchased through the app, and Smule has chosen a weird, currency-based system for purchases. You buy points instead of the songs. There are some good pop tunes available, and it would be fun to hear and see some of them being played, but I felt awfully limited by the initial choices and didn't buy any.

The app itself doesn't do a great job, either, of giving you specific feedback on the notes you play. Hitting the screen a little ways off from the target note does make the sound come out differently, and a match is scored with one to three lightning bolts. I found it fairly easy, even when I thought I'd made a few mistakes, to score well. Of course there are other difficulty levels, but I think the app itself pales in quality to something like Magic Piano, where there were a lot more choices of both songs and game modes.

At any rate, all of those arguments are somewhat moot, given that the app in question is free to download anyway. If the idea of playing a guitar on your phone sounds interesting at all, you should definitely give it a shot, though I think Smule will find that there's not quite as much interest in in-app purchases on this as on their other musical apps. That balance of free content versus paid content is often a tough one to hit right, and I think Smule fell just a little short of the line this time.

Sony's connected Music Unlimited offering is already available online, on gaming devices, on Android phones and tablets, so nice to see it's finally available on its, you know, Walkman music players. In what feels somewhat like an afterthought, "compatible Walkman devices" (currently just the NWZ-E465) can play your favorite channels and playlists on the move -- no connection required. Only those paying the $9.99 premium, however, get to add songs from the actual Unlimited music catalogue. Plug-in at home, sync the music, and listen at your leisure offline via the dedicated app, but with so many othercompetingways of enjoying your music from the cloud, on a plethora of connected devices, it really is surprising this wasn't already possible. Still, if you own an NWZ-E465, and subscribe to the Music Unlimited, you can feel all gooey knowing Sony has your back. Hit the PR after the break for more info.
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androidaudiocataloguechannelscloudmp3musicmusic unlimitedmusicunlimitednwz-e465playlistspremiumsongssonysony musicsony music unlimitedsonymusicsonymusicunlimitedstreamingtabletswalkmanwavTue, 13 Dec 2011 23:11:00 -050021|20127066https://www.engadget.com/2011/12/13/apple-brings-itunes-store-to-brazil-latin-america/https://www.engadget.com/2011/12/13/apple-brings-itunes-store-to-brazil-latin-america/https://www.engadget.com/2011/12/13/apple-brings-itunes-store-to-brazil-latin-america/#comments

Apple is extending its sphere of influence south of the equator today, with the launch of the iTunes Store in Brazil and a whole slew of Latin American countries. According to Cupertino, the platform will launch with a catalog of over 20 million songs, from both Brazilian and international artists, as well as a selection of more than 1,000 films for rent or purchase. Also included in today's release are users in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. Find more details in the full PR, after the break.

It's simply inescapable: Everywhere I go, I am inundated with tunes invoking the holiday spirit. It started a while ago, and I thought I had artfully dodged it by turning off the radio, avoiding stores, and just keeping immersed in game. But now, even when I log into Aion I cannot escape; just one quick port into Sanctum or Pandemonium and the tinkling tunes of the season waft to my ears. So why fight it, why resist? Heck, why not join in the throngs of holiday revelers by belting out the songs while shopping, entertaining guests, or even cruising through the drive-through? After all, I am not a Grinch, just a gamer. And the last thing we need is people thinking Aion negatively influences our lives, right?

Solorius is just around the corner, so in the spirit of giving, I am going to share with you a compilation of some of my favorite holiday tunes because I want to be in the spirit and I want to help spread the cheer! Well, that and because of the old adage that the only way to get rid of a tune that's stuck in your head is to pass it on.